Pat is a 1999 Notre Dame graduate, and is currently a systems engineer in Boston, Mass. He is one of the original writers for Blue-Gray Sky and recently has written for Lindy’s Sports “In the Huddle” 2012 football pre-season preview of the Fighting Irish.

Best Notre Dame athletics memory?
Does Bookstore Basketball count? Because playing in that every year as a student was probably tops for me, even if our team results were…less than stellar.

Favorite Fighting Irish athlete of all-time?
Plenty to choose from, but I’ll go with John Paxson. Manti is certainly moving up the list in a hurry though.

Matchup you’re most looking forward to seeing in the ACC?
Since Notre Dame has never played Virginia Tech, I think ND’s first trip to Lane Stadium will be a pretty fun event. I imagine the ACC will try and schedule that one quickly, before Frank Beamer retires. I’m also looking forward to ACC hoops, both against the conference heavyweights UNC and Duke as well as continuing the grudge matches with former Big East foes Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

First Notre Dame football game you saw in the stadium?
I really don’t remember. I started coming up to South Bend for game weekends as soon as I was born, but I would have to wait a number of years until I was finally allowed to attend a game. Even still, I don’t have a vivid memory of my first game inside the stadium. I do have hazy memories of sitting up high in the original stadium and hearing the name “Pinkett” called out over and over again. And I was sitting in the endzone seats for a game when Tim Brown caught a touchdown pass right in front of me. But I don’t know which game was my first trip into the House That Rockne Built.

If you could choose one Notre Dame game to have seen in person, which would it be?
Plenty of great ones to choose from. The ’88 Miami game and the ’74 upset over UCLA in hoops would have to be near the top. Still, I might go way back and pick the 1925 Rose Bowl win over Stanford. The chance to watch Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen win Notre Dame’s first national championship is too much to pass up.

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